Kolinzo and other USMNT fans, I now understand

[ohenhen1]

Why the US senior national team players are lacking in creativity.


I visited family recently in Florida, I decided to go to a big soccer complex to play a pickup soccer game. BTW the facility was impressive. Better than most stadiums in Nigeria. I was excited, I haven't played football in likes 6 months. I get to show off some skills. I got to the complex and joined a pickup game. I was like saying I go show this oyinbo people some mad skills today. BTW it was co-ed game. The game kicked off, the next thing I hear is man over man over, switch, switch, switch. They wanted one touch and move. I said WTF is going on here. They were playing pickup soccer like a real structured game. Didn't see one dribble all day. The game was extremely boring. I was expecting hard fouls and JJ Okocha style free style dribbling skills. I got a borefest of structured football. I played for 20 minutes and said I have to go, I have a meeting to get to. If I want to play structured football I will join a team. The whole purpose of a pickup unstructured football is to try new things. US soccer got the best facilities, but they still haven't really fallen in love with soccer. That lack of passion is why the USMNT senior team play is robotic, too structured.

[mcal]

Why the US senior national team players are lacking in creativity.


I visited family recently in Florida, I decided to go to a big soccer complex to play a pickup soccer game. BTW the facility was impressive. Better than most stadiums in Nigeria. I was excited, I haven't played football in likes 6 months. I get to show off some skills. I got to the complex and joined a pickup game. I was like saying I go show this oyinbo people some mad skills today. BTW it was co-ed game. The game kicked off, the next thing I hear is man over man over, switch, switch, switch. They wanted one touch and move. I said WTF is going on here. They were playing pickup soccer like a real structured game. Didn't see one dribble all day. The game was extremely boring. I was expecting hard fouls and JJ Okocha style free style dribbling skills. I got a borefest of structured football. I played for 20 minutes and said I have to go, I have a meeting to get to. If I want to play structured football I will join a team. The whole purpose of a pickup unstructured football is to try new things. US soccer got the best facilities, but they still haven't really fallen in love with soccer. That lack of passion is why the USMNT senior team play is robotic, too structured.

...there is a term we use at my old job, "we fight like we train".
So my friend, if you are not structured in training, fight hard for every ball/moves, then you cannot replicate it at real match.
Reason why many get injured (some seriously) at training than at the real thing.
Oh, btw, US system of play cannot and may never be like Nigeria style. Every country develop their own.

[green4life]

Why the US senior national team players are lacking in creativity.


I visited family recently in Florida, I decided to go to a big soccer complex to play a pickup soccer game. BTW the facility was impressive. Better than most stadiums in Nigeria. I was excited, I haven't played football in likes 6 months. I get to show off some skills. I got to the complex and joined a pickup game. I was like saying I go show this oyinbo people some mad skills today. BTW it was co-ed game. The game kicked off, the next thing I hear is man over man over, switch, switch, switch. They wanted one touch and move. I said WTF is going on here. They were playing pickup soccer like a real structured game. Didn't see one dribble all day. The game was extremely boring. I was expecting hard fouls and JJ Okocha style free style dribbling skills. I got a borefest of structured football. I played for 20 minutes and said I have to go, I have a meeting to get to. If I want to play structured football I will join a team. The whole purpose of a pickup unstructured football is to try new things. US soccer got the best facilities, but they still haven't really fallen in love with soccer. That lack of passion is why the USMNT senior team play is robotic, too structured.

Lol. Maybe you should travel to Hershey, Pennsylvania (near my neck of the woods) to find out how they trained Pulisic. Creativity ko. Headless dribbling ni.

[ohenhen1]

Why the US senior national team players are lacking in creativity.


I visited family recently in Florida, I decided to go to a big soccer complex to play a pickup soccer game. BTW the facility was impressive. Better than most stadiums in Nigeria. I was excited, I haven't played football in likes 6 months. I get to show off some skills. I got to the complex and joined a pickup game. I was like saying I go show this oyinbo people some mad skills today. BTW it was co-ed game. The game kicked off, the next thing I hear is man over man over, switch, switch, switch. They wanted one touch and move. I said WTF is going on here. They were playing pickup soccer like a real structured game. Didn't see one dribble all day. The game was extremely boring. I was expecting hard fouls and JJ Okocha style free style dribbling skills. I got a borefest of structured football. I played for 20 minutes and said I have to go, I have a meeting to get to. If I want to play structured football I will join a team. The whole purpose of a pickup unstructured football is to try new things. US soccer got the best facilities, but they still haven't really fallen in love with soccer. That lack of passion is why the USMNT senior team play is robotic, too structured.

...there is a term we use at my old job, "we fight like we train".
So my friend, if you are not structured in training, fight hard for every ball/moves, then you cannot replicate it at real match.
Reason why many get injured (some seriously) at training than at the real thing.
Oh, btw, US system of play cannot and may never be like Nigeria style. Every country develop their own.

But I am not going to train. I am just playing for fun or laughs. I miss Nigeria.

[ohenhen1]

Why the US senior national team players are lacking in creativity.


I visited family recently in Florida, I decided to go to a big soccer complex to play a pickup soccer game. BTW the facility was impressive. Better than most stadiums in Nigeria. I was excited, I haven't played football in likes 6 months. I get to show off some skills. I got to the complex and joined a pickup game. I was like saying I go show this oyinbo people some mad skills today. BTW it was co-ed game. The game kicked off, the next thing I hear is man over man over, switch, switch, switch. They wanted one touch and move. I said WTF is going on here. They were playing pickup soccer like a real structured game. Didn't see one dribble all day. The game was extremely boring. I was expecting hard fouls and JJ Okocha style free style dribbling skills. I got a borefest of structured football. I played for 20 minutes and said I have to go, I have a meeting to get to. If I want to play structured football I will join a team. The whole purpose of a pickup unstructured football is to try new things. US soccer got the best facilities, but they still haven't really fallen in love with soccer. That lack of passion is why the USMNT senior team play is robotic, too structured.

Lol. Maybe you should travel to Hershey, Pennsylvania (near my neck of the woods) to find out how they trained Pulisic. Creativity ko. Headless dribbling ni.

Pulisic got most of his education at Dortmund. Also isn't he originally from Croatia?

[green4life]

Why the US senior national team players are lacking in creativity.


I visited family recently in Florida, I decided to go to a big soccer complex to play a pickup soccer game. BTW the facility was impressive. Better than most stadiums in Nigeria. I was excited, I haven't played football in likes 6 months. I get to show off some skills. I got to the complex and joined a pickup game. I was like saying I go show this oyinbo people some mad skills today. BTW it was co-ed game. The game kicked off, the next thing I hear is man over man over, switch, switch, switch. They wanted one touch and move. I said WTF is going on here. They were playing pickup soccer like a real structured game. Didn't see one dribble all day. The game was extremely boring. I was expecting hard fouls and JJ Okocha style free style dribbling skills. I got a borefest of structured football. I played for 20 minutes and said I have to go, I have a meeting to get to. If I want to play structured football I will join a team. The whole purpose of a pickup unstructured football is to try new things. US soccer got the best facilities, but they still haven't really fallen in love with soccer. That lack of passion is why the USMNT senior team play is robotic, too structured.

Lol. Maybe you should travel to Hershey, Pennsylvania (near my neck of the woods) to find out how they trained Pulisic. Creativity ko. Headless dribbling ni.

Pulisic got most of his education at Dortmund. Also isn't he originally from Croatia?

My friend That’s a damn lie. Pulisic got most of his training playing Elite level youth soccer League in the Pennsylvania youth soccer set up. He went to Germany at 15 after learning dribbling and shooting skills in America.

[kalani JR]

Why the US senior national team players are lacking in creativity.


I visited family recently in Florida, I decided to go to a big soccer complex to play a pickup soccer game. BTW the facility was impressive. Better than most stadiums in Nigeria. I was excited, I haven't played football in likes 6 months. I get to show off some skills. I got to the complex and joined a pickup game. I was like saying I go show this oyinbo people some mad skills today. BTW it was co-ed game. The game kicked off, the next thing I hear is man over man over, switch, switch, switch. They wanted one touch and move. I said WTF is going on here. They were playing pickup soccer like a real structured game. Didn't see one dribble all day. The game was extremely boring. I was expecting hard fouls and JJ Okocha style free style dribbling skills. I got a borefest of structured football. I played for 20 minutes and said I have to go, I have a meeting to get to. If I want to play structured football I will join a team. The whole purpose of a pickup unstructured football is to try new things. US soccer got the best facilities, but they still haven't really fallen in love with soccer. That lack of passion is why the USMNT senior team play is robotic, too structured.

Lol. Maybe you should travel to Hershey, Pennsylvania (near my neck of the woods) to find out how they trained Pulisic. Creativity ko. Headless dribbling ni.

Pulisic got most of his education at Dortmund. Also isn't he originally from Croatia?

My friend That’s a damn lie. Pulisic got most of his training playing Elite level youth soccer League in the Pennsylvania youth soccer set up. He went to Germany at 15 after learning dribbling and shooting skills in America.

Gio Reyna is another example. Even Alphonso Davies grew up in Western Canada til he was 18 and can play "skilled" ball, he doesn't know what he is talking about.

[ohenhen1]

Why the US senior national team players are lacking in creativity.


I visited family recently in Florida, I decided to go to a big soccer complex to play a pickup soccer game. BTW the facility was impressive. Better than most stadiums in Nigeria. I was excited, I haven't played football in likes 6 months. I get to show off some skills. I got to the complex and joined a pickup game. I was like saying I go show this oyinbo people some mad skills today. BTW it was co-ed game. The game kicked off, the next thing I hear is man over man over, switch, switch, switch. They wanted one touch and move. I said WTF is going on here. They were playing pickup soccer like a real structured game. Didn't see one dribble all day. The game was extremely boring. I was expecting hard fouls and JJ Okocha style free style dribbling skills. I got a borefest of structured football. I played for 20 minutes and said I have to go, I have a meeting to get to. If I want to play structured football I will join a team. The whole purpose of a pickup unstructured football is to try new things. US soccer got the best facilities, but they still haven't really fallen in love with soccer. That lack of passion is why the USMNT senior team play is robotic, too structured.

Lol. Maybe you should travel to Hershey, Pennsylvania (near my neck of the woods) to find out how they trained Pulisic. Creativity ko. Headless dribbling ni.

Pulisic got most of his education at Dortmund. Also isn't he originally from Croatia?

My friend That’s a damn lie. Pulisic got most of his training playing Elite level youth soccer League in the Pennsylvania youth soccer set up. He went to Germany at 15 after learning dribbling and shooting skills in America.

Gio Reyna is another example. Even Alphonso Davies grew up in Western Canada til he was 18 and can play "skilled" ball, he doesn't know what he is talking about.

Even in a pool of frogs, there is one frog that is unique due to genetic mutation. Inspite of the bad grassroot development that discourage creativity and touch. There is always one or two exceptions. Even the few exceptions like Gio Reyna and Pulisic had to go to Dortmund to develop their game. Overall the US is not developing a lot of skillful players. US soccer should be worried. Compare the US to countries like Brazil. Creativity is encouraged at an early age. Go and watch their inter school games in Rio or Sao Paulo.

[ohenhen1]

Pulisic is not the normal American soccer player. He is from a soccer playing family. Parents were from Croatia and I think both played managed. Need to double check. He got Youth training in England when he was 7. And continued his Education at Dortmund when he was like 15.

[mcal]

Pulisic is not the normal American soccer player. He is from a soccer playing family. Parents were from Croatia and I think both played managed. Need to double check. He got Youth training in England when he was 7. And continued his Education at Dortmund when he was like 15.

...how about Landon Donovan who excelled in the sport before his retirement? Both parents from America, and never played the sport.
One thing I learnt about football playing among kids during my brief coaching, especially Americans, is "intense interest and willingness to listen to instructions". Any kid that abides by that creed tend to excel.

[ohenhen1]

Pulisic is not the normal American soccer player. He is from a soccer playing family. Parents were from Croatia and I think both played managed. Need to double check. He got Youth training in England when he was 7. And continued his Education at Dortmund when he was like 15.

...how about Landon Donovan who excelled in the sport before his retirement? Both parents from America, and never played the sport.
One thing I learnt about football playing among kids during my brief coaching, especially Americans, is "intense interest and willingness to listen to instructions". Any kid that abides by that creed tend to excel.

Landon Danovan that could not excel in Europe is not a good example to support your point. There have been a lot good American players. Donavan was not a highly creative player. His game is more about speed. If you are going to talk about great or up and coming American players. You have to talk about Tab Ramos, Claudio Reyna, Weah son and Pulisic There were some good prospects in the U20 team that beat Nigeria. There are players in the. current US setup that are better than Danovan. Anyways my point is the US is not creating enough creative players. NIgeria produces players like Samuel Chukwuze. Brazil produce many Ronaldihnos or Zicos. Argentina produces players like , Marasona Messi and etc. Even England is now producing a lot of creative players. France have a long history of producing players like Platini or Zidanne. Even the Germans are now producing a lot of creative players.

If the US is serious about winning the world cup there must be a fundamental shift. Yes it is good to pay attention to detail and train properly. But you must also encourage creativity.

[mcal]

Pulisic is not the normal American soccer player. He is from a soccer playing family. Parents were from Croatia and I think both played managed. Need to double check. He got Youth training in England when he was 7. And continued his Education at Dortmund when he was like 15.

...how about Landon Donovan who excelled in the sport before his retirement? Both parents from America, and never played the sport.
One thing I learnt about football playing among kids during my brief coaching, especially Americans, is "intense interest and willingness to listen to instructions". Any kid that abides by that creed tend to excel.

Landon Danovan that could not excel in Europe is not a good example to support your point. There have been a lot good American players. Donavan was not a highly creative player. His game is more about speed. If you are going to talk about great or up and coming American players. You have to talk about Tab Ramos, Claudio Reyna, Weah son and Pulisic There were some good prospects in the U20 team that beat Nigeria. There are players in the. current US setup that are better than Danovan. Anyways my point is the US is not creating enough creative players. NIgeria produces players like Samuel Chukwuze. Brazil produce many Ronaldihnos or Zicos. Argentina produces players like , Marasona Messi and etc. Even England is now producing a lot of creative players. France have a long history of producing players like Platini or Zidanne. Even the Germans are now producing a lot of creative players.

If the US is serious about winning the world cup there must be a fundamental shift. Yes it is good to pay attention to detail and train properly. But you must also encourage creativity.

...Ramos and Reyna were good creative players of their time, 30-20 years ago, no doubt. Also, note a tree don't make a forest. You need a creative player or players and you need a speedy goal scoring player or players to succeed. Donovan excelled in assist and scoring.

[Undertaker]

Why the US senior national team players are lacking in creativity.


I visited family recently in Florida, I decided to go to a big soccer complex to play a pickup soccer game. BTW the facility was impressive. Better than most stadiums in Nigeria. I was excited, I haven't played football in likes 6 months. I get to show off some skills. I got to the complex and joined a pickup game. I was like saying I go show this oyinbo people some mad skills today. BTW it was co-ed game. The game kicked off, the next thing I hear is man over man over, switch, switch, switch. They wanted one touch and move. I said WTF is going on here. They were playing pickup soccer like a real structured game. Didn't see one dribble all day. The game was extremely boring. I was expecting hard fouls and JJ Okocha style free style dribbling skills. I got a borefest of structured football. I played for 20 minutes and said I have to go, I have a meeting to get to. If I want to play structured football I will join a team. The whole purpose of a pickup unstructured football is to try new things. US soccer got the best facilities, but they still haven't really fallen in love with soccer. That lack of passion is why the USMNT senior team play is robotic, too structured.

You lost me at "I haven't played football in likes 6 months. I get to show off some skills."

[metalalloy]

Why the US senior national team players are lacking in creativity.


I visited family recently in Florida, I decided to go to a big soccer complex to play a pickup soccer game. BTW the facility was impressive. Better than most stadiums in Nigeria. I was excited, I haven't played football in likes 6 months. I get to show off some skills. I got to the complex and joined a pickup game. I was like saying I go show this oyinbo people some mad skills today. BTW it was co-ed game. The game kicked off, the next thing I hear is man over man over, switch, switch, switch. They wanted one touch and move. I said WTF is going on here. They were playing pickup soccer like a real structured game. Didn't see one dribble all day. The game was extremely boring. I was expecting hard fouls and JJ Okocha style free style dribbling skills. I got a borefest of structured football. I played for 20 minutes and said I have to go, I have a meeting to get to. If I want to play structured football I will join a team. The whole purpose of a pickup unstructured football is to try new things. US soccer got the best facilities, but they still haven't really fallen in love with soccer. That lack of passion is why the USMNT senior team play is robotic, too structured.

[paj]

Why the US senior national team players are lacking in creativity.


I visited family recently in Florida, I decided to go to a big soccer complex to play a pickup soccer game. BTW the facility was impressive. Better than most stadiums in Nigeria. I was excited, I haven't played football in likes 6 months. I get to show off some skills. I got to the complex and joined a pickup game. I was like saying I go show this oyinbo people some mad skills today. BTW it was co-ed game. The game kicked off, the next thing I hear is man over man over, switch, switch, switch. They wanted one touch and move. I said WTF is going on here. They were playing pickup soccer like a real structured game. Didn't see one dribble all day. The game was extremely boring. I was expecting hard fouls and JJ Okocha style free style dribbling skills. I got a borefest of structured football. I played for 20 minutes and said I have to go, I have a meeting to get to. If I want to play structured football I will join a team. The whole purpose of a pickup unstructured football is to try new things. US soccer got the best facilities, but they still haven't really fallen in love with soccer. That lack of passion is why the USMNT senior team play is robotic, too structured.

You're suffering from an extreme cases of Curtainitis….a medical affliction in which your football sense is vastly reduced by having grown up watching soccer via ya neighbor curtain...so u have a rather tiny view of the game...… even in Nigeria I don't know how much emphasis is placed in dribbling, toros and heighting….U need to download an upgrade to ya football sense bro

[bamenda boy]

Why do African teams struggle to beat the US then?

[Comrade Machel]

Why do African teams struggle to beat the US then?

Very good question

[ohenhen1]

Why do African teams struggle to beat the US then?

Because they get their wins in pointless friendlies played on small fields. They even beat teams like Argentina and Mexico at home.

The last time I checked Ghana handled them well in a competitive game with the exception of the last game at the world cup. Your statement as to why African teams struggle to beat the US is not true.

When was the last time the US agreed to play a game against an African side away from home or at a neutral venue?

[kalani JR]

Why do African teams struggle to beat the US then?

Because they get their wins in pointless friendlies played on small fields. They even beat teams like Argentina and Mexico at home.

The last time I checked Ghana handled them well in a competitive game with the exception of the last game at the world cup. Your statement as to why African teams struggle to beat the US is not true.

When was the last time the US agreed to play a game against an African side away from home or at a neutral venue?

Like any of those Ghana wins were easy, all those games were decided by a single goal and the teams were very evenly matched. Also teams play friendlies in their home country.

[ohenhen1]

Why do African teams struggle to beat the US then?

Because they get their wins in pointless friendlies played on small fields. They even beat teams like Argentina and Mexico at home.

The last time I checked Ghana handled them well in a competitive game with the exception of the last game at the world cup. Your statement as to why African teams struggle to beat the US is not true.

When was the last time the US agreed to play a game against an African side away from home or at a neutral venue?

Like any of those Ghana wins were easy, all those games were decided by a single goal and the teams were very evenly matched. Also teams play friendlies in their home country.

When is the US going to agree to play Nigeria at a neutral venue or in Nigeria?

In competitive games(non friendlies), what is our record against the US?

Don't include the last U20 team, that was not a typical Nigeria team.

[kalani JR]

Why do African teams struggle to beat the US then?

Because they get their wins in pointless friendlies played on small fields. They even beat teams like Argentina and Mexico at home.

The last time I checked Ghana handled them well in a competitive game with the exception of the last game at the world cup. Your statement as to why African teams struggle to beat the US is not true.

When was the last time the US agreed to play a game against an African side away from home or at a neutral venue?

Like any of those Ghana wins were easy, all those games were decided by a single goal and the teams were very evenly matched. Also teams play friendlies in their home country.

When is the US going to agree to play Nigeria at a neutral venue or in Nigeria?

In competitive games(non friendlies), what is our record against the US?

Don't include the last U20 team, that was not a typical Nigeria team.

When we invite them to Nigeria? We only play neutral friendlies because Nigerian organizers want to make money.

[ohenhen1]

Why do African teams struggle to beat the US then?

Because they get their wins in pointless friendlies played on small fields. They even beat teams like Argentina and Mexico at home.

The last time I checked Ghana handled them well in a competitive game with the exception of the last game at the world cup. Your statement as to why African teams struggle to beat the US is not true.

When was the last time the US agreed to play a game against an African side away from home or at a neutral venue?

Like any of those Ghana wins were easy, all those games were decided by a single goal and the teams were very evenly matched. Also teams play friendlies in their home country.

When is the US going to agree to play Nigeria at a neutral venue or in Nigeria?

In competitive games(non friendlies), what is our record against the US?

Don't include the last U20 team, that was not a typical Nigeria team.

When we invite them to Nigeria? We only play neutral friendlies because Nigerian organizers want to make money.

The US don't like to play away games. They are even against hosting the gold cup in other countries. It is like Nigeria demanding Afcon must always be held in Nigeria. The Americans home field advantage is scary, they rarely lose at home. And we for some reason don't take the friendlies seriously. I Remember the two friendlies we lost in the US. Both squads were made up of mostly fringe players.

Cobi Jones scored in that 3-2 win in the first one. Mostly fringe players for Nigeria. The 2nd one, Yobo was at the end of his SE career. He was no longer a starter at Afcon that we won in 2013. He was now a bench player. Yobo was beaten for pace in that game for one of the goals against Nigeria. Even Argentina lost in the US. Argentina also brought fringe players to play.

[kalani JR]

Why do African teams struggle to beat the US then?

Because they get their wins in pointless friendlies played on small fields. They even beat teams like Argentina and Mexico at home.

The last time I checked Ghana handled them well in a competitive game with the exception of the last game at the world cup. Your statement as to why African teams struggle to beat the US is not true.

When was the last time the US agreed to play a game against an African side away from home or at a neutral venue?

Like any of those Ghana wins were easy, all those games were decided by a single goal and the teams were very evenly matched. Also teams play friendlies in their home country.

When is the US going to agree to play Nigeria at a neutral venue or in Nigeria?

In competitive games(non friendlies), what is our record against the US?

Don't include the last U20 team, that was not a typical Nigeria team.

When we invite them to Nigeria? We only play neutral friendlies because Nigerian organizers want to make money.

The US don't like to play away games. They are even against hosting the gold cup in other countries. It is like Nigeria demanding Afcon must always be held in Nigeria. The Americans home field advantage is scary, they rarely lose at home. And we for some reason don't take the friendlies seriously. I Remember the two friendlies we lost in the US. Both squads were made up of mostly fringe players.

Cobi Jones scored in that 3-2 win in the first one. Mostly fringe players for Nigeria. The 2nd one, Yobo was at the end of his SE career. He was no longer a starter at Afcon that we won in 2013. He was now a bench player. Yobo was beaten for pace in that game for one of the goals against Nigeria. Even Argentina lost in the US. Argentina also brought fringe players to play.

Most countries play friendlies at home! They play the Gold Cup mostly in the US because hardly any of the other countries can host it, what is Jamaica or Grenada going to do with 12 plus countries at once.

If we use fringe players in friendlies then that's our fault and it's doesn't distract from the initial point, the US is and has been at a similar level to the top African teams for almost 20 years. The games against Ghana, Algeria and Egypt are proof of this.